China offers olive branch as Trump plans high tariffs

Chinese authorities expressed their willingness to engage in active dialogue with the U.S. on the principles of mutual respect, aiming to develop bilateral economic and trade relations, Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen said on Friday, as reported by Reuters.

Wang, who also serves as China's International Trade Representative, emphasized their readiness to handle external shocks in response to questions about potential tariffs that the future U.S. president, Donald Trump, may impose.

"We have the ability to resolve and resist the impact of external shocks." he said, according to CNN Business.

Wang also expressed confidence that Beijing is ready to expand areas of cooperation and manage differences with the U.S.

"We believe that if China and the U.S. can maintain a stable, healthy, and sustainable development trend in economic and trade relations, it will be beneficial (to everyone)," he said.

Economists interviewed by Reuters predict that the United States might impose tariffs on Chinese imports reaching almost 40% at the beginning of next year, which could lower the growth of the world’s second-largest economy by 1 percentage point.

However, there is something the Chinese can do as a goodwill gesture. According to the U.S., the Chinese government is taking conscious actions that contribute to an epidemic of the synthetic opioid fentanyl within the United States. These actions involve subsidizing the production of substances necessary to manufacture the drug.

Investigators working for the commission discovered that Chinese producers of so-called fentanyl precursors could benefit from tax breaks if they decide to sell their products outside of China. This information was obtained through access to a government portal in Beijing that was used to file such tax relief requests.

However, as the "Wall Street Journal" writes, three days after Donald Trump won the presidential election, China announced that, in cooperation with American intelligence, it had arrested a suspect involved in the long-term production of chemicals used to produce fentanyl. This was a symbolic gesture of goodwill by Beijing, taken due to intense pressure from Washington to tighten its actions.

However, as noted by "WSJ," when Trump took office, he promised to adopt an aggressive stance against China regarding their role in the fentanyl crisis, abandoning attempts at diplomacy and compromises made by the Biden administration. During the campaign, Trump announced that he would impose harsh tariffs on China if they did not help stop the influx of illegal drugs to the USA, reports the American Journal.